


Of Matchmakers and Swordplay

by Climbergirlio



Category: Mulan (1998), Mulan - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Married Couple, Mulan brings honor to her family, and during, of course, this is Mulan we're talking about after all, through marriage to Shang BEFORE the war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 14:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30107682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Climbergirlio/pseuds/Climbergirlio
Summary: What if Fa Zhou had kept in touch with his friend from his days in the army and was offered a non-combat position in the army? What if Mulan had been more successful at the matchmakers? What if she had also been much more successful with her training from the start? Mulan retold in a way that answers all of these questions.
Relationships: Fa Mulan | Hua Mulan & Fa Zhou | Hua Zhou (Disney), Fa Mulan | Hua Mulan & Mushu (Disney), Fa Mulan | Hua Mulan/Li Shang (Disney)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

Baba doesn’t even bother asking her how her visit to the matchmaker went. It is clear enough from her quiet disposition and her mother’s obvious disappointment. He does not yell at her, which is almost worse. Mulan would much rather he just got it over with. She knows he blames himself - she can practically  _ hear _ him thinking that if he had just been less lenient, then maybe… It’s no use. The village has always thought Mulan was strange, it was time her family began realizing it as well. 

As Mulan makes her way to her room to change, she hears her father quietly ask her mother for the details. “No match will be made for Mulan,” her mother quietly informs him. Mulan shuts her door after that. She’s well aware of her failure, she doesn’t need to hear it repeated. She wants to sob, but that feels selfish. This is her own fault, after all. 

Time passes. How much, Mulan isn’t quite sure, but suddenly it is time for dinner. The family gathers around the table and passes dishes silently back and forth. The silence is a far cry from the celebration that they had anticipated. 

“I received a letter from General Li in the army today,” her Baba tells the family. 

Mulan instantly freezes, fear taking over her body. The whispers in the village of a coming conscription make her shudder to think of what his next words may be, “what did he want?” Mulan asks cautiously. 

“Conscription orders are being sent to all families. Given that I was wounded in service to the emperor once before and have no son, General Li has offered me an advantageous placement in teaching battle strategy to new troops and as a tactical advisor to the army.”

There is a whoosh of air as both Mulan and Grandmother Fa exhale. 

“The placement means I will be stationed in the Imperial City for the next two months. In light of recent events, your mother and I have decided you will accompany me, Mulan.”

“Yes, father, of course,” Mulan responds. She can read her mother’s eyes. She will be expected to find a husband. The Imperial City is far enough away that the men there will not have heard of her...mishap here. This time, Mulan resolves, she will not fail. 

“We leave at first light tomorrow.”

Mulan reads that as her cue to go pack and bows, leaving the table. 

It’s not hard. She packs her nicest hanfu as well as her two second nicest. The only other outfit she needs she will wear on the journey. The other essentials are all packed as well. She feels an odd sort of thrill at the prospect of the adventure. It will be her last breath of freedom before she will have to marry and obey her husband. She tries to push the still-faceless prospect of the man from her mind. He does not exist yet. She must not let him control her before they have even met.

Resolve thus made, she readies herself for bed. When she next opens her eyes, her father is shaking her awake, “come, Mulan, we must be on our way.” She stumbles through the motions of dressing herself, unused to being awake so early in the morning. Before they leave, they stop at the temple and pray to the ancestors. 

_ Please let me succeed, _ Mulan prays,  _ please help me.  _

Mulan says a teary goodbye to her mother and grandmother, wondering if this is the last time she will see them as she is now - an unmarried woman. She steels herself and mounts Khan. With a swift kick, they are on their way. 

Mulan rides Khan alongside her father, who has hired a cart and horse for the journey. The wind in her hair as she thunders down the path feels absolutely amazing, and she lets Khan run for a long while down the road, stopping just before her father is out of sight. When he catches up with her, he doesn’t even reprimand her for her wild behavior. They both know this is her last chance to act how she pleases. Still, she opts to match his pace for the rest of the day. 

They stop for the night at an inn. Mulan’s room is just barely big enough to fit the small bed and tiny dresser. She sets her bags on the floor for lack of space and out tumbles a red lizard. Mulan shrieks and jumps on the bed, pulling off her shoe as she does so. In the next movement, she throws the shoe, hitting the creature dead-on. To her shock, the creature simply re-inflates, “is that really how you’re going to treat your guardian?” the creature asks. 

“You talk?!” Mulan screeches in response. 

“Geez, I can see why the ancestors said you needed help.”

“My ancestors sent me a talking lizard?!” Mulan has calmed down now. Though only slightly.

“Dragon. Talking dragon. Girl do you even know your family’s guardian animal?” 

“But you’re so small.”   
The dragon rolls his eyes, “for your convenience, of course. Do you have any idea how impractical it would be for a full-size dragon to tail you?”

Mulan pictures it a moment. He has a point, “okay dragon-”   
“Mushu.”

“Mushu,” she corrects herself, “what kind of help did my ancestors send you for?”

“Why, helping you to find a husband, of course.”

“Do you have experience in the area?” Mulan asks, slightly skeptical.

“Well, no. But it can’t be that hard!”   
Mulan laughs, “that’s what you think now.”

A small chirping noise comes from her bag as well and then Mulan’s ‘lucky’ cricket jumps out. 

“Oh and he came along too,” Mushu tells Mulan. 

“Okay well I am going to bed now. I have had just about enough weirdness for one day.”

~*~

Mulan is woken early by Mushu, who informs her that her father is already awake. She dresses blearily, but the surprise on her father’s face to see her ready to go is worth it. Perhaps Mushu will be useful after all. The day passes much the same as the one before, Mulan only sprinting ahead the one time as before. In fact, the only interesting day of their journey was the last. They stopped at the last village outside the Imperial City the night before. The last day of their journey necessitated a later start time. Mulan had to dress and adorn herself properly. Her father had to trade the hired cart for a small carriage which Mulan would ride inside. Baba would have to ride Khan as a symbol of his status as a war hero, which worried Mulan. Her father was in no shape for riding horses anywhere, much less a spirited beast like Khan through the bustling streets of the Imperial City. 

Still, Mulan knew she would injure her father’s pride by saying so and accordingly was silent. Instead, she focused on applying her makeup and smoothing out her dress. “Will it do?” she asks her miniature traveling companions. Mushu wipes a fake tear from his eye and nods solemnly. Cri Kee hops up and down excitedly chirping. Reassured, she steps from her room and makes her way to the front of the inn where her father is waiting with the carriage. She helps her father onto Khan, which is no small undertaking. She thanks the ancestors once more that her father had chosen to keep in touch with General Li. Without that correspondence, her father might have been forced into the army.

The ride to the Imperial City does not take long, and once they are within the walls, Mulan has to fight to keep herself from sticking her head out the window and taking everything in. Her admittedly much less appealing alternative is to sit primly with her fan covering her face. Unfortunately, that is the one she chooses. She cannot afford to dishonor her family  _ twice _ . After what seems like ages, they finally arrive at the military headquarters. Mulan steps down from her carriage lightly. 

Her father falls more than dismounts Khan, but steadies himself on the aforementioned horse before he hits the ground. Mulan comes to stand behind him. In the next instant, a broad shouldered man exits the building to come greet them. 

“General Li,” her father greets and begins to sink into a bow. 

“That’s hardly necessary, old friend,” the general tells her father.

Mulan does not pause her descent. She figures that allowance probably does not apply to her. 

“And this must be your daughter, then.” 

Mulan opens her mouth to speak, but then remembers herself and silently rises instead. 

“Yes. Fa Mulan,” Baba introduces, “she has accompanied me in the stead of my wife so she may do the cooking and cleaning. My wife cares for my mother, you see.”

“Ah yes. I remember your mother quite well, Fa Zhou. I can understand quite well why you would choose to bring your daughter with you. Besides which, there are many eligible men looking for wives at the moment. If I had a daughter, I would send her to the matchmakers at the first opportunity.” The general paused, “she’s not matched is she?”

“No,” her father answers as they follow the general through the halls.

“I have been trying to get my son to go as well, you know. He claims that he could not find the kind of wife he is looking for at the matchmakers. I fear he does not understand that if he does not go he will not find  _ any _ wife.”

“I was rather expecting to hear from you with news your son had become engaged,” her father admits. 

“He is too much like me. His true love is the battlefield.”

“A love that has paid off,” her father compliments, “since he is one of the youngest captains in the history of the Imperial army.”

“Yes, well,” the general says, but Mulan can tell the modesty is false. 

“Here are your quarters. I must get back to work. I look forward to having you join us tomorrow, Fa Zhou.” 

Mulan enters the room and the moment her father shuts the door, sighs a huge sigh of relief. Her father gives her an amused glance. Their quarters are relatively small. They have two bedrooms, the smaller of which Mulan claims, in addition to a main room which held a desk for her father to work at. The note on the desk had directions to the kitchen area where wives cooked as well as to the other common spaces shared with the other people who lived around the same courtyard as them. 

Her father tells her that he had been offered a mid-size lodging with these accommodations because of both his age and the likely probability of him bringing his wife or family with him. 

“When I was first promoted to officer during the war,” he tells Mulan, “I spent just over a week here, but on the other side where the bachelors stay. The accommodations there are much smaller, just one room and the courtyard groups have a designated eating room for the men because they won’t be cooking their own meals.”

“Is this place full, do you think, father?”

Her father shakes his head, “I would guess that at the moment most of the men who would be staying here are training troops or on the battlefield. Some may have left their families here, if they have them. It is one of the most well-protected buildings in the empire.”

Mulan nods, “I see.”

She then excuses herself to go remove her makeup and fancy hanfu so she may be more appropriately dressed to cook dinner. 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Shang closes the door to the rooms he shares with his father and resists the urge to scream. He has had meetings all day with the other captains who will be training conscripts and not a single one of the other captains had so much as  _ looked _ at him, much less listened to his ideas. Just because he’s young doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He  _ does  _ have battlefield experience  _ and  _ he graduated top of his class. He paces the length of the main room to blow off some steam. Just as he is calming down, his father enters. 

“Shang,” his father greets. 

“General,” Shang says, smiling slightly. It’s perhaps not traditional to call one’s father by his title, but Shang knew how hard his father had worked for his position. It felt like by calling him the name Shang was acknowledging his efforts. 

“Fa Zhou arrived today,” the General tells him, “with his daughter, Fa Mulan.”

Shang can immediately sense where  _ this  _ conversation is going. He’s not interested in any bride who he will see once and then leave behind either here in the military compound or at their house just on the outskirts of the Imperial City. Why his father doesn’t understand that, especially since Shang’s own mother had always accompanied his father to all his base camps when he was still working his way up the chain of command in the Imperial Army, is a mystery to Shang. 

When Shang was younger, his father used to tell him the story of how he met his mother.  _ Late at night _ , the story began,  _ there was a young soldier traveling between villages. His best friend was meant to accompany him, but had been hurt in a battle the day before, so the young soldier was all alone. Suddenly, three enemy soldiers jumped from the trees and landed in front of him. The young soldier was outnumbered, but managed to defeat the enemies, but not before one of them cut his arm very deeply. The young soldier knew the next town was not too far away, and if he could make it there, he would be saved. Soon enough, a house came out of the distance, and the soldier rode up to the door and knocked. He stayed conscious just long enough to see the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on, but by that point was convinced he was dreaming. When the boy woke up, he saw the girl standing over him. She had worked tirelessly for two nights to save a stranger’s life. The young soldier knew right then that he had to marry her, so he proposed and she accepted. And do you know who that woman was Shang?  _ His father would ask.  _ Your mother. She was one of the bravest women I ever met. She often cared for the wounded soldiers, you know. She was a true soldier’s wife.  _

Since the first time he had heard that story, Shang had wanted to marry a true soldier’s wife. He had never met his mother, since she died shortly after he was born, but his father never remarried, which to Shang was a testament of how much his father had loved his mother. 

“She was a pretty little thing,” his father’s voice brings him back to reality.

Shang resists the urge to groan, “even if she is Fa Zhou’s daughter, she is not the kind of woman I want to marry.”

“Do you not want a wife to return to when the war is over, my son?”

“That’s just it. I don’t want to have to  _ return to _ anyone. You always used to tell me that mother came to your base camps with you. Why should my future wife not come with me?”

“Your mother was a special woman. There are few others who would consent to go to such a place, even if they are technically allowed.”

“And until I encounter a woman who is willing, I will not marry. I do not just want to marry a pretty face father. If I am going to be bound to this woman forever I should at least want her to be an interesting companion to be bound to.”

“Most men would disagree.”

“And for all I follow tradition, this is one area where I feel I cannot,” Shang explains. 

“We can discuss this more later. I should at least like you to meet Fa Mulan. She is the daughter of a war hero and her family, despite living in a smaller village, owns quite a bit of valuable land.”

“And Fa Zhou is your best friend from your days as a lowly conscript,” Shang adds, “I will meet her, but that is all.”

“Good.” 

Shang then retires to his private room to draw up some plans for tomorrow’s meeting. He hopes it will go better than today, but he is not hopeful. After a while, he gives up and looks at the region his conscripts will come from. It is within reasonable distance of the Imperial City, but in the opposite direction of where the fighting was happening. This meant his conscripts would have a further distance to travel to get to the training camp. He would be staying just under the full two months of Captain’s meetings, then. 

The Emperor, the General, and their advisors had finalized the conscription order yesterday, so men who lived in the city or the immediately surrounding area would begin training next week. It was all happening so fast now. His father already had plans to visit the conscripted troops from several of the closest areas before riding off with finalized battle plans to where the bulk of the Imperial troops were stationed by the wall. He would probably leave around the same time as Shang. 

The rest of the night is spent in usual fashion, and indeed, Fa Mulan does not even cross Shang’s mind until just over a week later when Shang returns to their quarters and finds his father and Fa Zhou bent over a map. Their discussion seems private and intense, so as any good son does, especially a trained soldier, he leaves them be and goes to the window instead. What he sees is so stunning he can’t keep it to himself, though. 

A young woman is out on the grounds just outside the compound  _ riding a horse _ . “Who is that woman?” Shang asks, more to himself than to the two other men in the room, but his question is loud enough to draw their attention. 

Fa Zhou hobbles over to the window, peers out and sighs deeply, “my daughter, Fa Mulan. She had told me she was only going to ride Khan in order to get a carriage to deliver her to the matchmaker tomorrow. I apologize most sincerely for her lack of decorum.”

Shang can’t seem to drag his eyes away, “she is a wonderful rider.”

The General raises a brow at Shang, 

“If you both will excuse me, I must go retrieve my daughter. I will return tomorrow to continue our discussion, General,” Fa Zhou bows, perhaps not as lowly as he should, but Shang guesses it is as deeply as he is able with his injury.

When Shang turns back to look out the window, Fa Mulan is gone.

“I should like to meet her,” Shang tells his father. Even if she is not a true soldier’s wife as his mother was, being able to ride a horse is a good start. Far more promising than any other woman Shang has encountered. 

The General does not look disapproving, but his expression is hard to read, “that can be arranged.”

Shang smiles to himself and excuses himself to do some work. 

~*~

He does not actually meet Fa Mulan for another week, mostly because  _ he _ has to go to the matchmaker’s himself as a man looking for a bride in order to be able to meet her. When he tells the matchmaker that he was interested in meeting Fa Mulan and not the women the matchmaker had presented information for, she gives him an incredibly skeptical look. 

“Your family may be new to fortune, Captain, but that does not mean you need take an under qualified wife. It may be true that she is something of an heiress, but Fa Mulan passed my test with mediocre scores. The ladies whose information I have given you are far more suitable matches.”

Shang wonders briefly what the matchmaker’s test covers and if he should just forget the whole thing, but a part of him is curious about the daughter of Fa Zhou who can ride a horse better than most of the men in the army. 

“I should like to meet Fa Mulan,” Shang says, more firmly. 

“Perhaps you would at least like to read her file first?”

The matchmaker hands Shang a stack of papers like the others he had received. The first page is two lists, one of Fa Mulan’s qualities that make her marriageable, the other of reasons she may be unsuitable. The positive list notes her as being ‘graceful’, ‘capable of performing her duties’, ‘the daughter of a war hero’, ‘of moderate fortune’, and ‘an only child’. The negative list reads ‘insufficient knowledge of key texts’, ‘speaks out of turn’, ‘somewhat plain’, ‘poor embroidery skills’, ‘makes eye contact’, and ‘incorrect use of fan’.

Reading that, Shang is unsure of how to feel. None of that gives him any idea of what Fa Mulan is actually  _ like _ . Sure, she doesn’t use a fan correctly, but he can’t imagine that being particularly consequential. The next pages are forms with basic information like how old she is and where she is from. The information is all very basic and not that different from the other files he saw and Shang is strangely disappointed. Then again, he has no idea what any of it actually is supposed to tell him about these women. If he received reports on soldiers, he would be able to guess with some accuracy where they should be placed and how they would act. But this… he doesn’t have the faintest idea. 

“I would like to meet Fa Mulan,” Shang says again, setting down the folder. 

The matchmaker frowns slightly, “and any of the other prospects?”

“No, just Fa Mulan.”

After that, it takes only two days for the matchmaker to agree to an appointment. Shang hears his father discuss the appointment with Fa Zhou once, but they abruptly switch topics before he can tell if they are for or against the match. They must be for or they would not have agreed to the meeting. 

He’s not quite sure what to expect from the meeting. Shang and his father arrive at almost the exact same time as the Fas. Fa Zhou has barely stopped the carriage before his daughter is out and assisting him down. She helps him step down and then turns and notices them. She immediately bows. Her face is completely covered in makeup and she is in a nice hanfu. He can’t reconcile this Fa Mulan with the girl on the horse. Still, she appears devoted to her father, which is an admirable quality.

Shang attempts to read the girl as the families walk inside. More than anything, she seems nervous. He supposes that is understandable. If he’s honest with himself, he’s nervous as well. As they sit at the table with the matchmaker and their fathers, Mulan meets his eyes. She looks at him with a piercing intensity for a breath before dropping her eyes again. In the next moment, she is pouring them all tea. On the first cup, her hand shakes slightly and Shang  _ swears _ he hears her murmur to herself “you can do this, Mulan.” Once the tea is poured, the matchmaker begins by asking Shang questions about his ability to provide for a wife. He rattles off his station as a captain in the Imperial army, the fact that he is his father’s sole heir, and mentions they have apartments at the army headquarters and a house just on the outskirts of the city. When he is finished, the matchmaker turns to Fa Zhou and asks him similar questions. Once the matchmaker is satisfied with both these answers (and has reviewed the documents that corroborate these facts) she asks Fa Zhou about his daughter’s ability to run a household. Fa Zhou explains that Mulan has been managing their small apartment while they have been living in the city and that when they lived in their family home, Mulan helped her mother with all the chores. 

“Mulan is perfectly capable of handling the tasks required of a wife,” he finishes. 

“And does she have experience with managing a household staff?” the matchmaker asks.

“We have some seasonal help in our fields that has always respected and obeyed my daughter,” Fa Zhou explains. 

Shang has still yet to even hear the girl’s voice.

“I will not have any household staff to manage,” Shang explains, “we have none at the army headquarters and at our family house the staff is managed by our housekeeper, as we are often away. I will be headed to train soldiers at Wu Zhong training camp in just over a month, and since officers are permitted to bring their wives, I would want my bride to accompany me. Would you be willing, Fa Mulan?”

“A training camp is hardly an appropriate location for a husband to bring his young wife-” the matchmaker begins.

At almost the same time the matchmaker begins saying that, Fa Mulan speaks up, “yes!” At the scandalized look of the matchmaker, her face falls, “um, I mean, I would of course do whatever my husband wished of me. Um, no, I mean, that is for my father to consider.” She looks horribly embarrassed, and drops her gaze back to the table. 

For a beat, no one speaks. Then, “my daughter lives with me currently in the Imperial Army’s headquarters. I expect she would not have a problem with living in a basecamp.”

The matchmaker sniffs, “a training camp for  _ conscripts _ is no place for an honorable young woman.” She glares at Shang.

If possible, Mulan wilts even more. Still, her first response had been yes, and her father had not objected. 

The rest of the time with the matchmaker is inconsequential, and Fa Mulan does not speak again. It was a pity, because he had rather liked her voice.

“Well?” his father asks that night after the rest of their duties have been completed, “what did you think of Fa Mulan?”

“I have written to the matchmaker to request a second meeting.” Shang knows this means he will very likely be expected to propose at the next meeting. It is certainly a gamble, but at least she is the daughter of a war hero. She cannot be entirely opposed to a military lifestyle.

“She is certainly not what I was expecting for a daughter, but she  _ does _ remind me a bit of your mother, so I cannot object.”

The conversation turns back to plans for the army after that. 

That night, as Shang tossed in his bed, trying to fall asleep, the image of those piercing eyes did not leave his mind. 


	3. Chapter 3

Mulan returned from the matchmakers with decidedly mixed feelings. She had more or less expected that  _ if _ she married, she would marry someone who was much older, from a poor but once respectable family, or devoid of good looks. Captain Li Shang was...none of those. He had seemed stern and somewhat uptight, but there was nothing obviously objectionable about him that would make  _ Mulan _ a suitable prospect for him. Indeed, so far as she could tell, he would be marrying down by choosing her. Not that it particularly mattered, since she had already managed to ruin it by riding Khan and speaking her mind. 

“Well, I think that went well!” Mushu announces. 

“I have certainly had worse days at the matchmakers,” Mulan allows, “besides, it’s only thanks to you giving me the answers to some of the matchmakers test questions at my first appointment that I managed to even pass her test. I just can’t figure out  _ why _ he would want to meet me. Probably just wanted to know what kind of girl would ride a war horse,” she laments.

“Or he liiiiikes you,” the dragon says. 

Mulan gives him a stern look. “Well, let us hope at least that a captain in the Imperial Army wanting to meet me makes me at least a bit more desirable.”

Two days later, Baba receives a note from the matchmaker informing him that Captain Li Shang has requested a second meeting with his daughter. Not only that, but since the Captain must leave soon, he had asked if they could increase the speed with which the betrothal traditions were executed with. When Mulan hears this news, she practically sinks to the floor in shock. Two meetings means an official courtship. In fact, it means he probably will propose. 

Beyond that, she is not sure what exactly happens at a second meeting, so she is not sure how to prepare. She wishes her mother was here to help. She is tempted to write and ask for advice despite the fact that by the time the letter is delivered and her mother has time to respond she will either be engaged to the man or it will have ended. 

Still, she gets out some sheets. It doesn’t hurt to tell her mother that she was at least able to get this far. It proves she’s not  _ completely unmarriageable,  _ as her village’s matchmaker had threatened. 

**_My Esteemed Mother Li,_ **

**_I have grown more accustomed to life in military quarters. The wives here have been courteous and we all often share cooking and cleaning duties. None of them seem to care particularly for me, though and I often hear them gossiping about me behind my back. One of the women in our apartment group is a friend of the matchmaker’s, so they seem to be aware of my lacking knowledge of wifely texts._ **

**_This lack of knowledge does not seem to discourage Captain Li Shang, however. Father received a letter from the matchmaker today saying that the Captain has requested a second meeting with me. He also expressed that he would want to be married within the month._ **

**_You may recognize the name Li as that of Baba’s friend the great General Li. Indeed, they are one and the same. Captain Li is the only son of the esteemed General. I am unsure of why he has requested a second meeting when he must have better prospects, but I am not displeased. I have only seen him the one time, but other than his rather stern visage, there was nothing at all objectionable about him. Indeed, he is in all respects much better than any husband I had dared imagined I might have. I never imagined I would be able to make it this far, despite your best hopes for me. I hope I will be able to bring honor to our family after all._ **

**_Please write soon with news of home. I already miss it dearly._ **

**_Affectionately,_ **

**_Your Daughter, Fa Mulan_ **

Letter thus written, Mulan seals it and heads down to the office that deals with delivering people’s letters near the entrance of the compound. She enters and passes her letter and the fee to the man who is working. As she exits, she collides with a body. She steps back hurriedly, and much to her shame, it is Captain Li Shang. She very nearly blurts out her question right then and there:  _ why would you want to marry me _ , but manages to stop herself just in time. Instead she steps back and bows. It’s entirely reasonable that they would eventually see each other, given that they live in the same building, but she had not considered the possibility. One of the rules of courtship is to always be appropriately made up when meeting suitors, so she’s now broken that rule in addition to all her other shortcomings. 

“What are you doing here?” he asks rather bluntly. 

“Sending a letter to my mother,” Mulan responds, unthinkingly. She curses herself silently for her lack of tack. 

“Ah, yes, of course.”

There is an awkward pause. 

“Are you looking forward to meeting your troops?” she’s not sure it’s entirely proper to ask that, but she cannot think of any of the traditional conversation starters she was supposed to have memorized. 

He seems to relax, “I am. As Captain I will be in charge of the greatest troops in China, no the world!”

Privately, Mulan wonders if he knows what  _ conscripts  _ look like. She tries to imagine a single one of the boys from her village being part of  _ the greatest troops in the world.  _ She nearly laughs at the notion. Rather than tell him this she simply smiles, “your enthusiasm is commendable, Captain.” Too late, she realizes she had smiled showing her teeth. This was really a catastrophe. 

“And how is your horse?”

Whatever she had been expecting, that was not it. She eyes him warily, wondering if he disapproves, but opts to tell him the truth, “Khan is my father’s horse, naturally, but I care for him because my father is often unable with his injury so I suppose the family has taken to thinking he is mine. I actually should be going to groom him now.” It’s an attempt to excuse herself before she can mess anything else up. 

“I’ll come with you. I just need to drop off some letters of my own.”

Mulan is fairly sure that’s not strictly proper but she can’t find it in herself to object. She stands in the hallway, fanning herself slightly so she doesn’t look out of place. Captain Li Shang emerges from the room and looks suddenly shy, so Mulan leads the way to the stables. As they walk, Mushu and Cri Kee join them. 

“So I see you’re spending some time with the Captain,” Mushu says slyly. Mulan gives him what she hopes is a subtle look. 

“No judgement. So long as you marry the man it’s all cool in my book.” 

The walk to the stables is silent, but not oppressively so. Mulan retrieves Khan and leads him to a water trough. A few stalls down, the Captain mirrors her actions. 

“When did you learn to ride?” he asks.

“Do you not disapprove?” she asks in return. 

“My mother knew how to ride a horse. Or, at least, my father tells me she did. She died shortly after I was born.”

Mulan feels a pang of sympathy, “that must have been very hard. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without one of my parents.”

There is a brief silence. 

“My father taught me how to ride,” Mulan offers, “our fields are vast and someone had to look after them. My father could not, and neither could my mother or grandmother, so as soon as I was old enough, I did.”

“Did you not hire fieldhands?”

“Seasonally, of course, but there are not many extra laborers available year round. Besides, I think my father was always too proud to admit we couldn’t manage on our own.”

“Is it often hard for him?”

Mulan thinks for a moment, “he tries to hide it, but I think so. If your father had not written, I fear he would have followed the conscription orders.”

Mulan strokes Khan’s mane and then leads him to where she will groom him. The Captain follows suit. There is a comfortable silence as they both brush through their horses’ hair. 

“How do you plan to train your men?” Mulan asks. 

“I hope to build their strength and endurance first. Good soldiers are swift, strong, and mysterious.”

“Mysterious?”

Shang laughs, “that’s what my teacher always said. Unpredictable makes more sense, I guess.”

“Mysterious sounds better,” Mulan tells him.

“Probably why he always said it.”

She leads Khan back to the stables, and Shang attempts to open the door for her, “it’s stuck,” he groans, throwing some more force behind his push.

She walks up and takes a look and then lifts the bottom of the stable door slightly with her foot, sliding the lock backwards first, and then forwards so the door opens. “Has that happened to you before?” he asks.

“No,” Mulan replies, “I was just guessing.”

She doesn’t see his facial expression, but she assumes it’s disapproving. She’s already acted quite improperly enough today. Asking about his plans for the army and pretty much everything else she's said. Not to mention, way too much eye contact. Clearly, she is going to need more practice if she is ever to bring honor to her family. Perhaps the matchmaker is right and she needs lessons. 

Once Khan is put away, she turns back to him, “I should probably tell you I failed the matchmaker’s test.”

He frowns, “she told me you passed with decidedly mediocre results. That’s not failure.”

“Well, yes. But I mean the one in my village.”

“You have been to the matchmaker before?”

She tells him the full story. By the end, he is doubled over, laughing. Mulan frowns, “it’s not funny, you know. I dishonored my whole family and the only person so far who has shown any interest at all in marrying me is you and I already know I’ve ruined that too.”

That gets his attention, “what do you mean?”

“My behavior today has been deplorable and not at all like that of a proper young lady. I ought not have even spoken to you in the hall, much less come out here with you and told you that terrible story about my first matchmaker.”

He smiles at her as they begin walking back to the compound, “on the contrary, you have proven to me today that you are the only woman of my acquaintance I would ever consider marrying.”

“Why?!?” Mulan asks, genuinely shocked. 

“You’re funny, clever, and beautiful, why would I not marry you? Besides which, we are on our way to becoming friends, are we not? That’s at least a sign we are compatible.”

“But I am so far from being an ideal wife. I’ve only read five of the required texts and I can barely manage to remember the contents of those. You must have better prospects.”

“None of that matters to me. I don’t want a wife who I will have to send to my family home to sit and wait for me. I want someone who is willing to come to the base camp while I train my soldiers, someone who I can talk about my day with, someone who makes me laugh. I’ve spent so much of my life alone in military school so far, I don’t need a lonely marriage as well.”

Mulan gives him a small smile, “do you mean that?”

“I do.”

“Well I certainly will never be a traditional wife, but the marriage you propose is one whose duties I can fulfill. I would be most happy to be your wife.”

“And I would be most happy to be your husband.”

Mulan gives him another smile, “until tomorrow, then.”

She bows and then heads down the hall towards where her father’s apartments are so she can get together the food she’ll need for tonight’s meal. 

She is not sure if she should actually tell her father about her meeting with the Captain today. Ultimately, she decides not to, mostly because she does not want to disappoint him. Good daughters probably do not meet the man they might marry to groom horses without supervision. Still, she is quite glad the meeting happened. To bring honor to her family, she would have married the man out of a sense of duty, but strangely enough, she no longer feels bound only by her duty. In fact, she is looking forward to talking more with him. 

~*~

The matchmaker looks as displeased as ever to see Mulan on her doorstep, but allows them in. Mulan sits at the table, running over the conversation starters she had attempted to memorize last night. She is strangely nervous, but at the proposal meeting tea cannot be served, so she has nothing to do to occupy herself. Luckily enough, the Captain and General arrive and then a whirlwind of action begins happening. 

Time passes incredibly fast after that moment. It’s as if Mulan blinks and suddenly it is her wedding day. The fortune teller had decreed that the most auspicious date (within the time constraint) was just two days before Shang needed to depart for the Wu Zhong training camp. The day had come faster than Mulan had imagined it might. There was much to do beforehand. Her mother and grandmother, typically two of the more important guests, would not be attending the wedding. The journey was simply too far for two women to make alone, especially considering Grandmother Fa was not as young as she had once been. In their stead, some of the kinder officer’s wives had helped Mulan to prepare that morning. The only thing left to do was wait for her father to come fetch her and lead her to the sedan which would bring her to where Shang was going to meet her. She sits down to write to her mother to fill the time before he comes.

**_My Esteemed Mother Li,_ **

**_I write to you on my wedding day. This is perhaps the last letter you will receive from ‘Fa Mulan’. After this day, I shall be ‘Li Mulan’. That is the first time I have written that, and it seems fitting it should be in a letter addressed to you, the person to whom it was the most desirous. On this, what should be the happiest day of my life, I find myself missing you dearly. Still, I do not regret that Captain Li Shang is the man I am to marry. I have met him thrice now outside the two times at the matchmakers (which I know you must disapprove of, but it does not seem to upset him) and I have become convinced he is perhaps the only man I could ever marry that would make me truly happy._ **

**_Tonight we will stay in his family’s home, which is on the outskirts of the Imperial City. He tells me it has a beautiful garden. We will return to the compound early tomorrow morning so he may make final preparations for our journey to the Wu Zhong training camp. Tomorrow night I will once more return to my room here with father (so as to not be underfoot when the General is having last-minute meetings before HE departs the next day)._ **

**_After that, we will be off. Shang tells me I will only be able to bring what can fit in Khan’s saddlebags with me on the journey, and has expressed many times that he is grateful I know how to ride as it will make our journey that much faster. Indeed, only the General and an advisor to the Emperor named Chi Fu will accompany us. Shang tells me they hope to make only two stops along the way. I am ever so excited as this means I can ride Khan as he is meant to be and it will be perfectly socially acceptable._ **

**_I will write to you often. I was so pleased to receive your last letter. I hope sharing the news that I am officially married with the village brings you as much (if not more) joy than sharing the news of my betrothal did. I am so glad to have brought honor to our family. I did enclose my best sketch of Shang, as Grandmother Fa requested, but as taking likenesses is not amongst my skills and it is drawn from memory, I fear it has no real merit. After the war we will come to visit so you may meet him properly._ **

**_Affectionately,_ **

**_Your Daughter, Fa Mulan_ **

Mulan scarcely has the letter sealed when there is a knock on the door. Her heart begins racing faster than Khan’s hooves when she lets him run and Mulan forces herself to take a breath. It is  _ just _ Shang after all. They have met several times now and kept up a secret correspondence. (She suspects their fathers are aware of this correspondence, but neither of them seem to disapprove.) So really, there is no reason to worry. 

Her father enters the room. She stands and bows slightly to him. Their arms link, both so he may escort her and so she can offer him support. They make their way to the entrance of the compound, passing quite a few spectators on the way. The wedding had become the most anticipated event in the compound since the Mulan and her father had been presented with the wedding gifts. Gifts presenting was an inherently grand affair, so everyone in Mulan’s block had seen the presentation. The news had spread rather quickly after that that the General’s son was engaged. Somehow, none of them were quite sure how, but Mulan strongly suspected it was because of the friends of the matchmaker, everyone had known the wedding date the next day. She had scarcely been able to cook or clean without people swarming her and attempting to gain her favor. The ones who had shunned her before, Mulan ignored. A few of the older wives had been kind to her before, so those were the only women Mulan really talked to. The ones who had offered to help her with wedding preparations she had invited to the actual event. 

They follow behind her as she is handed into the sedan by her father and their husbands begin carrying her to where she will meet Shang and the General. She can’t help but think that despite the relative rush with which this wedding was planned, it is far grander than any wedding she would have had in her village. She wishes again that her mother could see her now. 

The wedding ceremony itself is quite quick. When she steps down from the sedan, the music is nearly unbearably loud. Still, Shang is waiting at the end of the red carpet, so she takes a deep breath and then steps forward. 


	4. Chapter 4

Shang had never known that being a captain would mean so many meetings. They were due to head out in just a few minutes time but it seemed likely that the departure would be delayed if they did not  _ hurry up _ . Really, there were only so many ways to train soldiers, but somehow they had managed to cover every single method at least three times since he had moved into the compound. Not to mention, they had all been students at the Imperial Academy. They knew all this already. He just wanted to be able to go meet his soldiers already. And to see his wife (he had a wife now!) again. 

After the wedding, he and Mulan had departed for his family’s house. They had spent a lot of time in the garden, simply walking and getting to know one another better. And when night finally fell, well that was probably not something he should think about whilst in a meeting, no matter how boring. 

Finally,  _ finally,  _ the meeting is wrapped up. Shang wishes the few remaining captains who have yet to head to their camps good luck and then he himself is on his way. His bags are already packed and ready, he had made sure of it this morning, so he makes his way to the front of the compound. Mulan and Chi Fu are already standing outside with the General. 

“How kind of you to grace us with your presence, Captain,” Chi Fu sneers. 

“My son had a captain’s meeting to attend. I can hardly find fault in someone who is doing their duty to the Emperor to the fullest degree,” the General says, defending him. 

“But where are the carts?” Chi Fu asks, changing the subject. 

Shang answers this time, “there are none, we will be riding on horseback in order to quicken the pace of our journey.”

“That is unheard of! How will your wife travel, then? Or have you given up that lunacy?”

“Mulan is perfectly capable of riding a horse. Are you?” Shang asks, already losing his patience with the annoying man. 

Chi Fu begins muttering about how improper it all is, but goes to saddle a horse. Meanwhile, Mulan nods to Shang, though he already knows her well enough to imagine she is hiding a wicked smile under her veil, and mounts Khan. Her father had agreed that she was to keep him, seeing as she was the only one capable of riding the majestic horse. Indeed, sat atop Khan, Mulan looks as though she is some sort of royalty. She pulls her veil more securely over her face and takes the reins. 

Shang assumes the veil is to keep the dirt from the path out of her eyes and also to discourage Chi Fu from speaking to her. On both accounts, he is envious. The path they will be traveling is known to be especially prone to large clouds of dust. If he could,  _ he’d  _ wear a veil. 

The first leg of their journey is by far the most interesting. They go through villages often and even stop to eat lunch in one. They make an odd party, two army officers, an imperial advisor, and a pretty young woman all traveling together. No one questions them, though, especially seeing as the General is wearing his badge and sword, Shang mirroring him. Mulan clings to his arm, but she doesn’t look the least bit scared, rather she seems to be excited. They are given a table away from his father and Chi Fu, out of both respect for the newly married couple and because the tavern is too busy to seat the group as a whole. 

He wishes he could share her enthusiasm. Taverns always made him uncomfortable. Mulan takes it all in, and he has a feeling she is calculating. He sees her take in the women, sees her realize what they are, but does not see judgement on her face. He wonders briefly if she would judge him for the times he had come to an establishment like this and wound up heading upstairs with one of the women, his classmates egging him on. He wonders if it would make her feel better to know that he could never go through with it, would feel like he should want to but just...didn’t. Would she want to know she was the only woman he has ever felt that way about before? Or would it worse to admit that and make her ask the question he himself did not know the answer to?

She raises an inquisitive brow at him, bringing him from his musings.  _ You okay? _ Her face seems to ask, and he doesn’t know when exactly they became this comfortable, this natural. They’ve known each other for less than a month, and seen each other only a few times within that month. Their main communication had been a secret correspondence, something he had insisted upon them trying so they might be halfway friends before being married.  _ All good _ , he tries to communicate back.  _ Later _ , he hopes his eyes promise. She seems to understand, because she smiles gently and goes back to scanning the room. 

After their lunch stop, they make good time. Shang and the General lead their party, abandoning Mulan to Chi Fu behind them. Chi Fu seems to be talking nearly nonstop about inane topics, but Shang is not sure how he can save his wife without offending the man, her, or both, so he rides on. People have never been his strong suit. Still, he looks back often, but Mulan seems completely at ease. It does strike him as unusual, considering her outspoken nature (that, she had owned to herself) but she also was a woman who was committed to doing her duty, something Shang had deep respect for. Perhaps she thought giving Chi Fu an audience was her duty to Shang and the General. He would have to make sure she did not have to do it again tomorrow, though. There was only so much of that man one could take. 

They stop for the night at an inn, as they are not carrying any tents. The General informs them before they head up for the night that they are almost exactly on schedule. 

Shang and Mulan are given a room to share that is quite small. Indeed he cannot imagine how the bed is supposed to fit the both of them. 

Mulan scans the room, “this is...spacious.”

“They told me they gave me a large room,” Shang replies, shock laced into his words. 

“Well in that case, I am glad you did not get a small one,” Mulan laughs. She sets her bags on the small table. A red flash  _ seems  _ to come out of one of them, but he cannot be sure. 

“I do apologize for leaving you to Chi Fu,” he tells her, setting down his own bags, “I am in awe of your patience.”

Mulan blushes, “it was not my patience, I fear, but something much more material,” she opens her hand to reveal two earplugs. 

Shang laughs, “oh, that’s genius!”

“Why thank you very much,” a male voice responds, and a tiny red dragon emerges from behind Mulan’s bags, spitting fire into the air. Shang nearly jumps out of his skin. 

“Mushu!” Mulan scolds, “what a terrible method of testing if Shang can see you! What happened to easing him into it?”

Shang is gaping, “what- but- you- the tiny dragon-“

Mulan glares at the dragon, and then turns to face Shang, “Shang, this is Mushu, my guardian. He was supposed to return home after my wedding, but when he heard that I was going off to a training camp, insisted on coming along to ‘protect me’ from the men there.”

Shang sits on the bed rather heavily, “I see.”

“But see, this is good news!” The dragon - Mushu - announces, “it means the family line is not dying out after all!”

Mulan glares at Mushu again, “Mushu, how about some privacy? And take Cri Kee, too, why don’t you?”

“Oh I see. Privacy like you wanted on your wedding night. I still think making you read that scroll was-”

“Okay, Mushu! Out now, please!”

The dragon salutes and slides under the door, followed by a cricket. 

“Sorry about that,” Mulan smiles halfheartedly, “he does grow on you.”

Shang shakes his head briefly, “so you have a tiny guardian dragon that follows you around named Mushu.”

“Yeah.”

“And also a cricket?”

“He’s supposed to be my lucky cricket.”

“Is he?”

“Well I found you, didn’t I?” Mulan answers, almost reflexively. Her eyes widen a moment later and she studies her hands rather intently.

Shang smiles, “then I think he should be considered  _ our  _ lucky cricket. Now, come on, and we shall see if two people can really manage to sleep on a bed this small.”

Later, when they are both on their sides on the tiny bed, more exhausted than they had been when they first arrived, Shang whispers in her ear, “don’t think I haven’t forgotten about what Mushu said about a scroll. I am most curious as to what the contents of that scroll might have been.”

“I am sure you are,” Mulan whispers back, “but you do not know all my secrets yet, Captain.”

~*~

They head out early the next morning. Just before they are about to leave, Shang sees Mulan discreetly put in earplugs. She catches his glance and winks. He makes a mental note to yell louder if he wants to get her attention. 

Just over a day and a half later, they arrive at Wu Zhong training camp. The first soldiers are already lined up with their conscription notices. Their party skirts the line and heads towards the officer tents. Mulan goes to put their things away in the large tent they will share. Shang and his father go to the office tent to have a discussion. The General will continue on with the company of men who had been training here previously and is now ready to see battle. It starts now. 

Shang’s first glimpse of his men makes him realize his work is going to be much, much, harder than anticipated. Some of the men had started a brawl and nearly destroyed the camp. Shang manages to get everyone separated and lined up. He wonders briefly when he had agreed to be a  _ father _ to a bunch of young conscripts, but he supposes he should have seen this coming. Eventually, he makes sure everyone knows who is in charge and sends them to pick up all the grains of rice they spilled. 

“Tough day?” Mulan asks when he returns to the tent.

“I knew conscripts had little fighting experience, but I did not know just how...unruly they would be.”

“You’ll whip them into shape in no time,” Mulan reassures him. 

“How can you be so sure?” he asks. 

“Because I have faith in you. You’re a great captain, Shang.”

“We will see.”

The next day, he leaves Mulan still sleeping and heads out to begin the first day of training. There is still some friction between the men, but Shang hopes the training will erase that. One man in particular seems to be problematic. As Shang tells the men his expectations for them, he can hear Yao whisper “ooooh tough guy.” Time for his first lesson. 

Shang shoots an arrow so it gets stuck at the very top of a tall pole, “Yao, thank you for volunteering. Retrieve the arrow.”

“I’ll get that arrow, prettyboy, and I’ll do it with my shirt on!”

Before Yao can climb, though, Shang brings out the weights and lectures his men on the importance of strength and discipline. He is not surprised when none of the men can reach the top, but he is disappointed at how far off they are. He goes through a few more basic training exercises, all of which the men fail miserably at. By the time he returns to the tent that night, he is discouraged. 

Mulan already has dinner waiting for him when he enters. He gives her a tired smile that she returns gently. “That bad?” she asks. 

“It was only the first full day. I am sure they will improve, right?”

“If there is anyone who can turn those men into soldiers, it’s you,” she reassures him, “you are a dedicated and talented captain.”

He sighs, then remembers the question he had wanted to ask, “so what did you do today?”

“I rode Khan for a while. There’s a hill not too far away that gives you a nice view of the camp, so I went up there and watched you for a while. I met the camp cook as well.”

“You’re not bored, are you?” he asks, suddenly realizing how selfish it was of him to ask her to come here where she has nothing to do and no one to talk to all day. 

“Not particularly. I rather enjoy the freedom. I am just trying to stay out of the way of your training.”

Shang runs a hand over his face, “a wise choice at the moment. There is a distinct possibility they would accidentally kill you. I am shocked we have had no casualties.”

Mulan laughs lightly, “it could be good for my reflexes.”


	5. Chapter 5

The first week living at Wu Zhong flies by quickly for Mulan. She quickly falls into a routine. In the mornings, she wakes with Shang and they eat a quick breakfast together. After he leaves, she tidies the tent and opens the windows to air it out. She then retrieves Khan from the stable and rides him to the top of her observation hill. She spends most of the day here, concealed by the leaves. Sometimes she will copy the soldier’s movements with a stick of her own, learning alongside them. No one knows to look for her here, so it is safe enough. When the men go off to climb the mountain with weights, she rides Khan around the camp. In the evening, she has dinner with Shang and they talk before retiring to bed. 

It is an ideal arrangement for Mulan. She feels just as free as she did before being married, if not more. Despite the fears of her family and herself, she is even managing to be a good wife. Well, she thinks she is. Her train of thought encourages her to concentrate harder on the task at hand. She  _ will  _ be a good wife. 

She is so focused on her work that when the tent flap opens she reacts on instinct and picks up the closest object, which happens to be Shang’s extra sword, and spins on the intruder. Her eyes widen when she sees who it is. 

“I am so sorry!” she exclaims, “you startled me.”

Shang doesn’t say anything for a beat, studying her, and then: “show me that again.”

“What?”

He moves and begins to circle her slowly, “that move you did with the sword. Show me it again.”

Mulan is confused, but she tries her best to replicate what she did. 

“Amazing,” he breathes. 

“I am really sorry,” Mulan repeats, “I was not expecting you back so early and you startled me. I will try to reign in my instincts in the future.”

“No! No, no, Mulan, that was incredible! You handled that sword better than my men can. Did your father teach you?”   
Mulan can feel her face heating up, “no, but when I was younger I used to secretly play with it. I haven’t picked one up in years.”

“You continuously manage to amaze me,” Shang pauses for a moment, “perhaps it is best that you learn how to use a sword, though. You do spend a good portion of the day alone and there is a chance you could happen upon a wild animal.”

“Are you offering to teach me?” she asks, setting the sword down.

“Yes. I could hardly have you learning from an incompetent teacher.”

“When shall we start?”

“How about now?” Shang asks

“Well, I was preparing our dinner,” Mulan tells him, “I was not expecting you back so early.”

“I let the men out early today. They  _ have  _ been working hard and it’ll do no good to burn them out. Besides which, this way I get to spend some time with you.”

Mulan sits back down and continues her preparations. They talk as she works, mostly about the little things. The matchmaker was right, they are a very compatible couple. They have their differences, of course, but even their differences manage to complement each other. Soon enough, they have finished their dinner. Shang offers her the only non-captain’s outfit he has brought along for her to train in, citing safety. 

The clothes are almost comically large on her, and Mulan fears she will trip right over them. Mushu comes in to save the day though and manages to roll the pants to a better length. He also helps her to tie back her hair. When she exits the tent, Shang cannot keep the amusement from his gaze. She glares at him. Stupid men and their being so much bigger. 

As far as first training sessions go, it could have been worse. Mulan is certainly no soldier, but she manages to hold her own better than some of the men she had watched from afar. She’s also a quick study, which is her main advantage. He does not need to explain the concepts many times before she learns them. 

“Alright, that is enough for the day. We should head back to the tent now.”

“I had better bathe before retiring,” Mulan muses, “as my mother used to tell me, smelly to bed, smelly to rise.”

“I will join you then. The pond should be empty by this time of night.”

They make their way silently to the pond, hand in hand. Mulan checks the area briefly once they arrive. No one is in sight. She slips out of her clothes and dives in. The water is cool, but she quickly adjusts to the temperature and swims out a few strokes. Spinning back around, her eyes find Shang, still standing on the bank, staring at her. He is apparently transfixed. 

“Are you coming or not?” she asks, and then spins back around so she can swim out a bit deeper. 

When she resurfaces, Shang is already in the water. She pours a few handfuls of water over her hair before he grabs her hand gently and takes over. It is oddly intimate and Mulan suppresses a shiver that is not caused by the chill of the pond. After a few moments, he pauses and sets his hands on her shoulders instead. The moment breaks with a splash on the other side of the pond and the couple comes to their senses and lingers no more out in the open. They have plenty of time for lingering gazes in various states of undress in their tent, away from Shang’s soldiers. 

The days continue in the same pattern. Mulan spends her time as she chooses, often following along with the exercises the soldiers do from a distance. In the evenings, she trains with Shang. Life at camp becomes routine, but does not ever venture into becoming mundane. And then one day, everything changes. A messenger comes bearing the news that they need to head to the front immediately. 

Mulan learns this news when Shang comes back earlier than usual, before she is anywhere close to being done with making dinner. 

“I have been served orders to bring my troops to the front.”

Mulan drops her spoon, “so soon?”

He nods, pacing their tent, “we leave at daybreak tomorrow. Unfortunately, this means you will have to accompany us as I will not be able to arrange for anyone to come retrieve you quickly enough and I cannot spare any of my men.”

Mulan tries not to look thrilled at the prospect, “I see.”

“I am so sorry, Mulan. I never would have brought you here had I anticipated this.”

“Well, I can defend myself, as you well know.”

“But I could not arm you. The uproar it would cause amongst my men if my wife was a better soldier than them...”

Mulan frowns, trying not to be too offended by that statement, “what if I wasn’t your wife?”

“What?”

“The messenger, did anyone see him other than you?”

Shang looks confused, “no.”

“And is he gone now?”

“Yes.” Shang has still not caught on, “I believe he went on to the capital.”

“What if he didn’t? You could tell the men your wife left camp earlier, if they question it at all. No one has seen me save for Chi Fu, and I always had a veil on when I was with him. If I cut my hair, bind my chest, and wear soldier’s clothes, I could pass for a man. Being small and already being proficient at riding Khan, I would be believable as a messenger.”

“It could work. But Mulan, think of the danger you’d be putting yourself in.”

“The same danger you're putting yourself in. As your wife, I promised to share your burdens. Let me.”

“I don’t like this plan.”

“We don’t have a better one.”

“Fine. But you must promise me to be careful.”

As a response, Mulan picks up the sharp blade she had been training with, slicing through her hair. Shang winces as her thick black locks hit the ground, irrevocably severed. She pulls her new short hair up, mimicking the style her husband prefers. She then sheds her clothes and begins the process of binding her chest. Shang’s hands reach out to help her, though he still does not look thrilled about the whole idea. 

“I will see if I can find you a smaller uniform,” he tells her, “wear the one you’ve been using for now, but we must have you properly attired if this is to be believable.”

He then exits the tent, returning much quicker than she has thought possible with clothes that look as if they will fit her more accurately. She pulls them on and indeed, they do. He hands her his extra sword. “I hope this works.”

Dinner lies half cooked and forgotten on the stove as he exits the tent, Mulan following. 

“Attention, men!” Shang announces, pausing for a moment to allow everyone to quiet down, “we have been called to the front!”

A stunned silence falls over the soldiers. 

“We will head out at first light tomorrow. I expect you all to be ready. This is what you have trained for.”

“And what about your wife?” A squat man in the back yells out. 

Shang’s expression hardens. “War is no place for women. As soon as I became aware that there was a possibility my troops would be considered ready for battle, I of course sent her to my family home.”

“And how come you didn’t tell us there was this possibility?” Chi Fu asks. 

“I wished to avoid the panic it may have caused, especially given I was not sure when or if that day would come.”

“And how come that day is now?” a soldier asks. 

“My father has sent us a messenger asking for our assistance.” 

Mulan steps forward from where she had been more or less hiding behind Shang. “Soldiers, this is…”

“Fa Ping,” Mulan supplies in her deepest voice. 

“Fa Ping. He will be accompanying us on our journey.”

Mulan rushes and joins the ranks. She already feels out of place and wonders if this was a mistake. 

“That is all,” Shang dismisses the soldiers. 

The men disperse and Mulan goes with them. She joins a group of soldiers for dinner, trying not to be disgusted at the way they slurp up their meals. She is more thankful than ever for her dignified husband. A few of the men talk to her and she manages to hold her own in the conversation. The men she sat with did offer her space in her tent, but she politely refuses, informing them that she already has a tent, citing her role as a messenger for the necessity of the object.

As the dinner finishes up, Mulan slips back to where Shang’s tent is. She makes a show of putting up the little single tent she had been given in case there were no inns on the route back to the Imperial City. She doesn’t actually plan on sleeping in it, but the relative proximity to where their tent is will excuse her coming from that direction. 

Tent thus constructed, she slips back into their tent and begins packing up her belongings. Once they’re all collected and in a bag, she starts a fire behind the tent. It’s not an uncommon sight so she hopes the soldiers won’t think too much about it. She then enters back into the tent and begins gathering up all her feminine garments. Shang wanders in as she is picking up the last one. 

“What are you doing?” He asks, bewildered. 

“Burning them.”

“What?! Why?!”

“We can’t exactly explain how your wife left without any of her belongings, can we?”

“But what will you wear when the war is over?”

“These are not the only clothes I own,” she points out, “I can stop by my family home, my mother will be worried as it is, and stock up. Besides which, few people would bat an eye at a captain returning from war and letting his wife buy a few extra hanfus.”

Shang supports her non-verbally, taking part of the burden of the things she has gathered and heading out to the fire she has going out back. They sit there together, tossing items into the fire one by one and watching Mulan’s past go up in flames. And that night, as Shang undresses her, she revels in her last night of being a woman. 

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

The troops march out at dawn, Mulan mounted on Khan and riding alongside the supply cart. Around her, the men sing playfully, seemingly in good spirits. The first few days of their journey are spent in this manner. She spends her nights alone in the small tent, strangely unused to the lack of company. It would simply be too risky. Still, she doesn’t feel lonely. She misses the body of her husband beside her, which is something she never would have expectedly, but the soldiers are warming to her, chatting with her as if she was one of their own and not some interloper. And she does manage to steal moments with Shang every once in a while, which is nice. 

Their journey, thus far easy and relatively painless, takes a dramatic turn when they round a mountainous corner and come upon the burned remnants of a village. A hush falls over the normally boisterous group of soldiers. 

“Spread out!” Shang orders, “look for survivors.”

The men do as told, shocked by the reality of war. 

“I don’t understand,” Shang tells her when they happen to be searching the same area, “my father should have been here.”

Mulan says nothing, a little doll lying amongst the burning ruins commanding her attention. Besides, there isn’t anything to say. Grief is evident enough. 

“Captain,” a voice calls, and Shang and Mulan follow its call. Over the ridge is a gruesome sight. The valley is filled with the bodies of soldiers in the Imperial Army. “the general,” a helmet is proffered to Shang. Shang takes the helmet, expression unreadable. 

Mulan searches for something to say. She didn’t know the General very well, but he had always been kind to her and he had saved her father, so she had a generally positive impression of him. She could only imagine how Shang was feeling. 

He walks off on his own, planting his sword in the ground and placing his father’s helmet upon it. He bows his head in grief. Mulan waits for someone to go to him before realizing that none of these men know Shang like she does.  _ She  _ must be the one to go comfort her husband. Some things are more important than her cover. She makes her way silently across the snow and sits by him. 

“He was my only family for so long,” he whispers, grief tearing at the edges of his voice, “I loved him.”

“I know,” she murmurs, taking his hand, “but you have me now. I am here for you, whatever you need.” She wants to tack on,  _ I love you _ at the end, but it seems wrong somehow since she has yet to tell him before. Instead she stays quiet at his side. 

Shang takes a shuddering breath, squeezes her hand briefly, then lets go and stands. 

He stands tall and strong as he faces his troops, a façade already in place. 

The troops move out slowly. 

Their trek is decidedly more somber and seems nearly interminable. Shang had decided the best course of action was to head in the direction of the Imperial City, as that was where the huns would be moving. Their hope was to beat them to the destination, so they move quickly, much more quickly than before. 

Trouble follows them, though, when one of the cannons in the supply cart randomly explodes. The men all dive for cover, but Shang yells for them to save all they can. Everyone scrambles to obey but the far majority of their supplies still go up in flames. As if they needed more bad luck, the commotion alerts the Huns to their presence. The men work quickly, taking down the group of enemies. When the last group disappears in a blast, the men cheer, proud of their first victory. The sound barely escapes their mouths when a great thundering surrounds them, originating from the ridge above. Mulan raises her eyes to the source of the cacophony, and feels only blind terror at the sights of hundreds of Huns gathering on the ridge. The men around her draw their swords, and she follows suit. Beside her, the men ready the last remaining cannon. She thinks to herself that at least if she dies today she will die alongside her husband and some of the bravest men in the Imperial Army. 

The Huns begin descending over the ridge and they all stand ready. Then, she sees it. There is no time for her to think, and if she did, she would not be able to summon the courage and faith in her plan. She grasps the last cannon and gallops across the snowy field. Behind her, she can hear Shang’s anguished cry and the men’s surprise and shock. She doesn’t pay them any mind. 

The Huns continue to advance as she plants the cannon in the ground and aims it for her object. Frantically, she attempts to light it but the matches slip from her cold and shaking fingers. Thinking quickly, she grabs Mushu, who had been traveling with them, and uses his fiery breath to light the fuse. It goes off just as Shan Yu reaches her.

He laughs an evil laugh, “you missed.” He then swings his sword and the blade makes contact with her chest. 

If the wound hurts, she wouldn’t know. The thundering of the snowpack slipping off the mountain chases away the pain. She mounts Khan and spurs him in the opposite direction, hoping against hope that she can outrun the avalanche she has created. Shang, her wonderful, beautiful husband is running towards her. It takes him perhaps a moment longer than it should for him to realize what is happening. When he does, he turns back and runs the other way. Neither of them are fast enough. Though she manages to pull Shang up onto Khan with her, it does no good. The avalanche is rapidly headed towards the edge of a cliff. As they careen over the edge, Mulan shoots an arrow into the sky as a last ditch effort to save them.

Somehow, she is not sure how, but figures the ancestors must have intervened, the men manage to pull her, Shang, and Khan back up and onto solid ground. Shang is still unconscious, which worries her, but then he begins to stir. 

He wakes and everyone celebrates. The men all cheer and offer her congratulations and for a moment she is happy. It doesn’t last. Almost as soon as she begins to revel in the idea that they’ve won, she collapses to the ground. 

“He’s hurt!” someone calls, but Mulan is unable to identify who it is in her state. 


	7. Chapter 7

Mulan awakes to the worried face of her husband. When he sees she is awake, he grasps her hand, “that was incredibly reckless,” he admonishes.

“How bad is it?” Mulan asks, voice scratchy. 

“It could be worse. But what were you thinking? This is real war. It is very different from our training. You could have been killed!”

Mulan feels ashamed for the first time. She had thought he would be proud. 

He sighs deeply, "but despite all that, it was still incredibly clever of you." He smiles, "I have a brilliant wife." 

"All thanks to you," she returns the compliment.

He shakes his head, as if he doesn't quite agree, “the men want to see you.”

She sits up and nods once. When Shan Yu had cut her, he had also sliced through the wrapping that had bound her chest. It is not salvageable. She gives up on that idea and simply wears the shirt more loosely. She can blame the injury. 

“You must kick me out,” she tells him before they leave the tent.

“No.” His response is firm. 

She frowns, a bit sadly, “it’s the only way. I will be discovered if I enter the Imperial City at your side.”

“I won’t let you do this.”

She smiles at him, but betrays the heaviness within her, “you must. I will wait here to allow you and the men a head start. Our enemies are vanquished and I am capable of defending myself. After all, I had the best teacher there is.”

Shang’s lips form a straight line, “this is our worst plan yet. I despise it. I fear I have been a terrible husband to you, Mulan. It seems all I am good for is constantly endangering you.”

Mulan scoffs, “I am equally at fault. I have hardly been a traditional wife.”

“I never wanted you to be,” Shang tries to reassure her.

She smiles at him, genuine this time, “I knew what I was getting into, Shang. And I don’t regret it one bit. Now, come on. I need to confess my sins.”

Shang leads the way out of the tent, still not looking completely convinced about the plan. When she appears, the men congratulate her once more. Yao, Chien Po, and Ling even come up and shake her hand. 

“We must make haste to the Imperial City,” Shang announces, “to inform the Emperor of what has transpired.”

“I cannot come with you,” Mulan pipes up.

“Why not?” Yao asks. 

“I was never supposed to be here. I stole my father’s conscription notice and joined the army in his place. I was never even supposed to deliver the message to you in the first place, Captain, but I stole the notice from the real messenger’s tent and left a note of my own in its place,” she hangs her head, completing the charade, “so you see Captain, I have deceived you and I have deceived the Imperial Army. You must leave me behind.”

“No.” Shang tells her, voice betraying some raw emotion. 

“Sneaky, sneaky,” Chi Fu laughs, “what a nasty little boy. Why Captain, you ought to kill him for his deception. Or are you too weak to discipline traitors?” The obnoxious advisor taunts. 

The men gasp, clearly not favoring that suggestion. 

“Ping saved all our lives today,” Shang announces, “and while your honesty is estimable, your deceit is unforgivable. You will not venture with us to the Imperial City and are not to show your face to this company again. However, your bravery entitles you to keep your horse and provisions so you may make your way back home.”

“Yes, sir,” Mulan agrees, bowing her head, “thank you.”   
“Men! Move out!”

Mulan sits down heavily on the ground. A part of her regrets this plan, especially as the cold bites at her through the thin fabric of her clothing. She tightens it around her, not needing the bagginess to disguise her figure with no company. She then pitches the tent her husband had so thoughtfully left for her. That helps somewhat. Mushu tries to entertain her. His fire-breathing is especially appreciated. 

When she finally determines that she should prepare for her return to the Imperial City and begins packing up, she sees something rather odd. A hand pops out of the snow. At first, she thinks perhaps the wound is worse than anyone had thought. But then, as a few Huns begin popping up from the snow like the grains in springtime, she knows she is not deluded. She mounts Khan and rides towards the Imperial City as quickly as she can. 

The main problem she encounters is that she doesn’t actually know the way there. Mushu and Cri Kee are only so helpful, and Khan is an instinctual animal, but even he cannot navigate mountains he has never been in. Still, she manages to make her way through the pass. She can only hope she did so quickly enough. Luckily, she had planned for a more leisurely journey back and by leaving the tent in the mountains where she had pitched it and riding Khan as fast as he could go, she will be able to catch up with the soldiers. She only hopes the Huns won’t be traveling at such speeds. Her confusion in the mountains is concerning, though.

The gates of the Imperial City are an impressive sight but today she does not so much as spare them a glance before thundering through as quickly as Khan will take her. A great crowd has gathered at the base of the palace and the spectators are too close together to allow her room to pass through on Khan. She dismounts quickly. People around her gasp and she hears them murmur the word ‘woman’ more than once as she pushes through the mass. In her haste to warn Shang, she had forgotten to tie her hair up and loosen her robes once more. It was too late now. 

Luckily, the shock works to her advantage and she reaches the front of the crowd just as Shang and the men reach the Emperor. “Huns in the city!” She calls. “Shang! There are Huns in the city!” She doesn’t bother trying to disguise her voice. 

He spins but her warning comes too late. The Huns burst out from the dragon they were hiding under and almost before she can blink, take the Emperor captive and seal the gates to the palace. She runs to the platform to rendezvous with her friends.

“Ping? You’re a woman?” Chien Po asks. 

“Uh, yeah,” she admits, slightly sheepish, “but we have bigger problems.”

“I’ll say,” Yao chimes in, “how are we going to rescue the Emperor?”

Mulan scans the area and comes up with an idea so ridiculous it just might work. 

“Follow me,” she tells them. And they do. 

She explains her plan on the way and is surprised that the men readily agree to it. In fact, they seem rather excited to execute it. 

It doesn’t take them long to change. Though they may be the ugliest courtesans she’s ever laid eyes on, she’s hoping it will work. They all gather at the base of the tall columns that will be their way into the palace. Mulan and the men will serve as a distraction. Shang will head for the Emperor.

“Ready?” she asks. 

“Mulan!” Shang calls, and then comes over and caresses her face softly, “be careful.” His eyes are brimming with unsaid things. 

That’s a conversation for later. “You too,” she tells him simply, really feeling that knot of fright that has built up inside her. She’s not even really that afraid for herself though. No one will expect her to be able to fight. She’s just a woman. They know he can. 

“Your name’s Mulan?” Yao asks. 

“Li Mulan,” she answers, and begins climbing. 

If the men are shocked by that revelation, they don’t have time to discuss it. Everyone simply heads into action the moment they set foot on the palace floor. The soldiers actually make decent courtesans. At the very least, the Huns don’t initially realize they’re men. Unfortunately, that deception does not work for as long as she hoped. Still, they have the element of surprise on their side when it comes time to attack. They clear the way for Shang to get to the Emperor. 

As soon as all the men are defeated, though, they rush out to the balcony. Shang is holding his own against Shan Yu, but they need to get the Emperor to safety. 

“Chien Po, get the Emperor!” Mulan orders. 

Chien Po obeys, scooping up the old man with an apology and then riding down the rope to safety below. The men follow suit.

Mulan goes to escape as well but then sees her husband lying on the ground, apparently unconscious. She knows she cannot leave him. Instead, she cuts the rope, preventing Shan Yu from using it for the same purpose the soldiers did. The huge man bellows in anger but Mulan pays no attention to him, running to her husband's side. Unfortunately, Shan Yu is not as distracted by this loss as she had hoped and looms above them before she has the chance to make a getaway. Luckily enough, Shang pulls a dagger from his armor and holds it up. Shan Yu swats it away easily. 

“You. You took away my victory,” Shan Yu growls to Shang, holding his sword to his throat. 

Mulan panics. “No,” she tells him, scrambling for something that will make the formidable man focus on her instead, “I did.” She pulls her hair up into the style she had been wearing while she was pretending to be in the army. 

Understanding dawns in Shan Yu’s eyes, “the soldier from the mountains.” 

Perhaps she had not fully thought the plan through because she is unarmed and less than half his size and now he is after her. She turns and flees, closing the doors behind her to stall Shan Yu for as long as she can. Mushu finds her in the hall and she sends him off to a tower so he can help her. Shan Yu comes crashing into the room moments later. She tries to climb a column to avoid him, but he simply cuts it down and she goes crashing through a wall of the palace. The beam hangs out over the crowd and she is on the wrong side of it. Just as she thinks this is the end for real this time, she spots a decoration on the palace that resembles a handle just enough that she should be able to pull herself up. She jumps for it, figuring she has nothing to lose. She manages to grab hold and pull herself up. 

Mulan runs across the roof as fast as she dares and is just beginning to have the notion of jumping for it when Shan Yu bursts through behind her. She searches her pockets but the only weapon she has is a fan. It will have to do. Shan Yu taunts her, claiming she is out of ideas, which makes it even more satisfying when she disarms him using it. She really  _ is  _ running out of ideas when Mushu shows up like a tiny red savior. Bless him, he has picked the biggest firework of the lot. She uses Shan Yu’s sword to pin his cape down and then gets out of the way as fast as she can. 

He does not react fast enough and the firework’s path is straight and true. Her next mission is  _ get off the roof _ . She runs as fast as she can and then makes a blind leap for the rope that will mean safety. She comes off and crashes right into Shang.

“Mulan!” Shang says, relief coursing through his voice. “You’re okay!”

“I am. I’m sorry, Shang, for not being the perfect wife. I know coming back here as  _ me _ may have sentenced you to death right alongside me.” It comes spewing out before she has time to think. 

“You’re  _ sorry _ ? Mulan, that was the most brilliant strategy I’ve ever seen.”

“But...” she splutters, “you could be killed for my actions. I have brought you dishonor.”

“A small price to pay for saving the whole of China. I was raised a soldier, Mulan. I accepted the risks long ago.”

“But you’re not mad?”

“No. I’m impressed,” he offers her a hand and pulls her up, “you’ve certainly proven you can take care of yourself.  _ I’m _ sorry for ever doubting you.” They then head to rendezvous with the men. 

The next trial comes with Chi Fu. He stomps down the steps of the palace rather petulantly and threatens Mulan. Shang immediately steps to her defense, despite claiming just moments before that he knew she could take care of herself. She doesn’t mind too much. It’s actually quite sweet when she thinks about it. She actually thinks he might kill the man, but the Emperor comes down the steps and he drops the annoying little man.

“Your Majesty,” Shang addresses the Emperor, “I can explain-”

The Emperor holds up a hand and Shang wavers for a moment before stepping aside. The men follow his lead.

Mulan supposes that is her queue so she steps forward and bows. 

“I’ve heard a great deal about you,” the Emperor begins and Mulan sees the slimy smile of Chi Fu in the background. She assumes that whatever he has heard is probably not positive.

The Emperor begins listing off a list of all the terrible things she has done and she cannot help but cringe at every item. Just when she thinks she has cemented her fate and probably her husband’s too, he smiles kindly at her and acknowledges that she has saved the whole of China, bowing his head slightly. Chi Fu follows the Emperor’s example and practically falls to the ground in his haste to bow as deeply as possible. Behind her, the soldiers and Shang do the same. The effect ripples as people in the square do the same. She is quite overcome by emotion.

The Emperor does her the high honor of offering her a position on his counsel, which Chi Fu protests. When the Emperor instead offers her Chi Fu’s job and the weaselly man faints away, she cannot help the small grin of triumph. Her conscious assails her a moment later and she respectfully declines.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, I was married just before the war started. I have not seen my family in months and they must be dreadfully worried.”

The Emperor seems to understand, and bestows upon her his medal and Shan Yu’s sword. She cannot help but throw herself at the old man and give him a hug. The soldiers all gather around her and give her a big group hug as well. When they let go, she turns to her husband. He picks her up off her feet, spinning her in the air and kisses her sweetly, right there on the steps of the palace for most of China to see. 

“I love you,” he declares when he sets her back on the ground. The declaration that had been building over these past months slips naturally from his lips.

Mulan smiles radiantly at him, “and I love you.”

After their mutual declarations of devotion, they share another short kiss. 

“Let’s go find your father,” he suggests when he pulls back.    
  


They then both mount their horses and head off to the compound, where her father must be. Even without his injury, Fa Zhou was never one to be found in a crowd of this size. Sure enough, he is sitting alone in the courtyard. 

Mulan approaches him quietly, still holding Shan Yu’s sword and wearing the Emperor’s medal.

“Mulan!” he gasps.

She bows quickly at his feet, “father. I have brought you the sword of Shan Yu. And the crest of the Emperor.”

Fa Zhou looks behind her to where Shang stands, “are these your husband’s honors?”

“No,” Shang tells him, smiling broadly, “they’re Mulan’s. She earned them and they are hers and hers alone.”

Her father drops the gifts and hugs his daughter instead. 


	8. Chapter 8

After the hustle and bustle of the past few weeks, Shang and Mulan decide to spend the night at his house on the outskirts of the city before heading to Mulan’s family home. Her father travels with them. It is just as beautiful as she remembered and she finds herself strangely looking forward to making it her new home. There is even less time to explore her future residence than there had been when she had stayed here on the day of her wedding. They arrive and quickly claim the room that Shang had declared as his the last time. Some time in the future, he will be expected to take over as the head of house, but that is a task far too arduous and emotional for the short time they will be spending in the house. It will also mean Mulan will have to redecorate, a task she fears more than facing the entirety of Shan Yu’s army at once. 

They leave at the crack of dawn, all three of them well used to the early hour. Shang owns a horse and cart he insists Mulan’s father take. The couple rides just a short distance ahead. Once, Shang challenges Mulan to a race. By the time her father guides his own horse to a stop where the younger members have laid out lunch, they are still laughing and taunting each other. Instead of reprimanding her for behaving improperly with her husband, though, Baba just smiles broadly.

Just a few days later, Mulan is walking back through the gate to her family home. 

“Mulan!” her mother calls, “oh, Mulan!”

She hugs her daughter before doing the same to her husband. 

Shang stands politely back to allow the family reunion to happen without his interference but Grandmother Fa notices him rather quickly. 

“Mulan! Is  _ this  _ your husband?”

Mulan laughs lightly. “Yes. Shang, this is Grandmother Fa and my mother, Fa Li. Mother, Grandmother, my husband Li Shang.”

“Thank you for looking after our Mulan,” her mother tells him.

“Trust me, she was hardly in need of it.”

“I am mostly concerned about your drawing skills, Mulan” her grandmother chastises, “your sketch of your husband did him no justice.”

“You sketched me?” he asks. 

She frowns, embarrassed, “it was before we were married and from memory. That combined with my lack of skill in likenesses makes it a quite inaccurate specimen.” 

He grins, “I am very interested in seeing this sketch.”

“Come,” Grandmother Fa beckons, “I still have it!” She cackles and Mulan shakes her head, partly in fondness partly in exaggeration. 

Shang follows her grandmother inside as Mulan’s parents come up on either side of her. They stand there for a moment before heading in as well. 

Later that day, Mulan takes the time to thank Mushu and Cri Kee. She walks in the garden with her husband and tells him stories of her childhood. She helps her mother to cook dinner. In a lot of ways, she is a completely different girl than the one who left this home, but it still feels just as familiar. In just a few weeks, she and Shang will be recalled to the Imperial City to be co-generals of the Imperial army. For now, though, she’s going to take life a little easy. 


End file.
